In 1915, at the age of seventy-seven, Joseph Tripp Burbank was known as the “Champion Combination Drummer of the World” according to the St. Cloud Tribune. Born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania on October 12, 1836, J.T., as he was later known, was one of nine children born to Jacob and Sophia Burbank.

This month, Executive Director, Donnita Dampier is celebrating 11 years with the Osceola County Historical Society. Dampier has made it her mission to preserve Osceola County history and to educate the county’s residents and visitors about the area’s cultural and natural gifts. She works closely with city and county officials, and is often found championing the cause of history.

As a boxer in high school, he was always the smallest of the group. The nickname “Kayo”, little brother of cartoon character Moon Mullins, was bestowed upon him. He was born in Brooklyn, Texas; on Christmas Eve in 1916, to A.J. and Florence Murphy and had six brothers and two sisters. The family moved to Kissimmee when Kayo was in second grade. His childhood was spent attending local schools, enjoying summers at the old swimming hole on Mill Slough and climbing up trees to watch movies in an open air theater on the corner of Monument Avenue and the railroad tracks. He later graduated from St. Leo Preparatory College where he excelled in sports and was inducted into the St. Leo College Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Osceola County Historical Society will be celebrating what life was like in early Florida by hosting the 26th Annual Pioneer Day. This is always a fun time for the community to come out and enjoy the Pioneer Village at Shingle Creek for free, and experience historical re-enactments and examples of daily life for pioneers. What makes this year’s event even more exciting is OCHS has added another replica building, the General Store, and we will be celebrating its grand opening at 10:30AM, November 11th during the 26th Annual Pioneer Day event!

Forty years ago, on November eighth, people in the Shingle Creek area may have had a real monster on their hands. This story of the Shingle Creek Monster (pictured in this blog) was the headline for the Osceola-Polk section of the Sentinel Star. I followed Frank Carroll's footsteps when writing about this mysterious creature, nicknamed the “Loch Shingle Monster”, which doesn't flow like the Loch Ness Monster. Many people that lived in the area brushed off the beliefs that it could have been something other than a very large catfish. Many made it a personal goal to catch the moster of Shingle Creek, but they all came up empty handed.